This invention deals generally with infant seats and more specifically with an infant seat that has a reduced size for shipping and mechanisms that permit simplified reclining of the seat.
Infant swings are used extensively by caregivers to sooth and comfort babies. They are basically a seat that securely holds and positions the baby within a frame that supports the seat and allows it to move in a swinging front to back or side to side motion relative to the baby.
The seat structures themselves have been constructed in many different ways, including a simple wire frame with a fabric sling and a now common plastic shell with fabric pads. Some seats have a construction for reclining that varies the angle between the seat bottom and seat back, however, most seats provide the recline feature by tilting back the entire seat. In such an arrangement, the angle between the seat bottom and seat back does not change as the seat assembly is reclined, but the angles of both the seat bottom and the seat back relative to the floor are changed.
Many prior art shell type seats pivot the seat for reclining at the junction of the seat bottom and seat back, and they use a support wire and slotted stops to hold the seat upright or in several degrees of tilt. That is, the support wire is held by and pivoted from the swing hanger support rods, and a horizontal section of the wire is held within downward opening hook-like fixtures on the outside of the seat back. This arrangement has proven to be both cost effective and structurally sound, but it results in a recline system that is not visible from the front of the seat. Therefore, it requires the caregiver to use two hands while standing behind the swing or reach around the seat in order to adjust the seat angle. Typically, one hand is needed to support the seat while the other hand repositions the support wire.
Another problem with the shell type seats is their substantial shipping size. Prior art plastic shell seats are big and bulky causing the shipping size of even the disassembled infant swing to be rather large.
It would be very beneficial to have an infant seat that provides a simple operation for changing the recline position, while also minimizing the tendency of a seat occupied by a child to tilt over backwards when the angle of recline is being changed. Another beneficial improvement would be a structure permitting grasping handles on both sides of the seat to rotate the entire seat to the desired position. Furthermore, substantial economic benefit could be derived from a shell type seat design that would reduce the shipping size of the seat.